Quotes from The Oracle Glass

Judith Merkle Riley ·  528 pages

Rating: (3.5K votes)


“I could feel something cold stalking my heart. It was fear. They all begin this way, I thought, with pledges of love.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, quote from The Oracle Glass


“When faced with the illogical, one must expand the sphere of logic to include rules of logic for that which is not logic. This is the only possibility in a world that works according to the rules of rationality.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, quote from The Oracle Glass


“Oaths, in my opinion, infernal or not, ought to be short.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, quote from The Oracle Glass


“After all, he meant well. Foreigners never seem to understand how little attraction an island of damp fogs, cut off from civilization, and a provincial little court has for us Parisians, who inhabit the most cultivated, powerful monarchy in the world.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, quote from The Oracle Glass


“Daughter, your presence is a stay and consolation to me. Begin again in the Tenth Book; tell me, how does Aristotle define true happiness?” “Father, he tells us that true happiness is found in contemplation, whereas the common idea of happiness as pleasant amusements is fostered by the courts of tyrants.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, quote from The Oracle Glass



“Why the Romans, Father?” I asked him one afternoon. “Because, my child, they teach us how to bear suffering in a world of injustice where all faith is dead,” he answered.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, quote from The Oracle Glass


“Are you aware of the penalties reserved for freethinkers? I could send you to the block. Good.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, quote from The Oracle Glass


“I mistrust mountebanks—especially of the female variety.”
― Judith Merkle Riley, quote from The Oracle Glass


About the author

Judith Merkle Riley
Born place: in Brunswick, Maine, The United States
Born date January 14, 1942
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“wavering. She was not raised to confront people or defend herself in a confrontation; she was raised to appease, to mollify, to calm, to tuck little monsters in at night, to apologize for things she screwed up without realizing, to forgive, to sweeten, and her bars, her bars did that for the world, they were her I’m Sorry, they were her Like Me, they were her Love Freely Given.”
― J. Ryan Stradal, quote from Kitchens of the Great Midwest


“I didn't want them to look at me after saying something about Black people, didn't want to have to avert my eyes so they didn't see me studying them, studying the entitlement they wore like another piece of clothing.”
― Jesmyn Ward, quote from Men We Reaped


“Auburn-Stache. Am I selfish?"
"I've never met a soul that wasn't. I've met a lot of people who don't bother wondering.”
― Leah Thomas, quote from Because You'll Never Meet Me


“Maybe it doesn't matter, maybe if we all force ourselves to act like we're okay even if we're not, eventually things will get better.”
― Nina LaCour, quote from The Disenchantments


“People don’t expect a small Japanese girl to be able to break a man’s arm. “They didn’t assume you were a ninja?”
― Demitria Lunetta, quote from In the After


Interesting books

Futures and Frosting
(23.4K)
Futures and Frosting
by Tara Sivec
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
(18.4K)
The Ascent of Money:...
by Niall Ferguson
A Well-Tempered Heart
(6.3K)
A Well-Tempered Hear...
by Jan-Philipp Sendker
Trouble
(17.7K)
Trouble
by Samantha Towle
The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren
(4.2K)
The Waiting Sky
(1.3K)
The Waiting Sky
by Lara Zielin

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.